Chapter Summaries

Aili and Teruhito’s side defeated Qingchuan’s Great Tengu inside the Reality Marble, and Qingchuan escaped to warn Prince Yoshihito. After the Reality Marble vanished, Scar overwhelmed Edward, Alphonse, and Shou Tucker until Roy arrived and drove him back, leaving Tucker badly injured and facing an ordinary life.

• Aili arrived to stop Qingchuan, who ordered the Great Tengu to unleash its Feather Blade Storm against Teruhito and the others.
• A figure cut through the storm and killed the Great Tengu, prompting Qingchuan to crush a Philosopher’s Stone and escape by teleportation scroll.
• Aili and Teruhito left, and the Reality Marble’s destruction vanished as the world returned to normal.
• Shou Tucker challenged Scar, but his Chimeras suddenly burst apart, and Scar quickly crippled Edward, Alphonse, and Tucker.
• Roy arrived and used his flames to drive back the wounded Scar, while Tucker realized he might have to abandon alchemy and return to an ordinary life.

After Edward and Alphonse were injured, Armstrong escorted Edward toward his hometown while Lust secretly monitored him as an important human sacrifice. Xu Yue joined Lust on the train, and when Edward spotted the missing Doctor Marco at a station, the group went after him.

• Roy warned that Edward could be targeted by Scar, but Armstrong volunteered to protect him and took him toward his hometown.
• Lust boarded the train to watch over Edward and worried that Xu Yue and his master threatened the plan.
• Xu Yue sat beside Lust and spoke with her during the train ride, gaining a trace of her interest.
• Armstrong recognized Doctor Marco at a station, and Marco fled before Edward and Armstrong could speak with him.
• Edward and Armstrong pursued Marco, while Lust warned Xu Yue to stop following her and Xu Yue said they were going the same way.

Xu Yue warned Doctor Marcoh to flee after protecting him from Lust, while Edward and Alphonse continued toward the Central Capital to investigate the Philosopher's Stone. In the Central Capital, Jiaren heard Qingchuan's report about the battle and prepared for a possible ambush.

• Aili guarded the restroom while Lust emerged confused, then Lust forgot about Doctor Marcoh and boarded a train toward Edward's hometown.
• Xu Yue met Doctor Marcoh, stopped his alchemical attacks, and urged him to flee before Lust remembered him.
• Doctor Marcoh asked Xu Yue to stop the people behind the Philosopher's Stone, and Xu Yue agreed but said he could not act yet.
• Edward had his arm repaired by Winry, restored Alphonse's armor, and set off for the Central Capital with Armstrong.
• Lust remembered fragments of what she had forgotten and hurried after Edward and Alphonse to protect the plan.
• Jiaren praised Qingchuan for bringing important intelligence to the Central Capital and considered preparing an ambush.

Edward found Doctor Marco’s coded book and began deciphering it, discovering that it contained the key to opening the Gate of Hell. Jiaren and his companions confronted Edward to learn what he had uncovered, and the chapter ended with Jiaren summoning his Great Tengu.

• Edward found Doctor Marco’s book in the library, recognized its alchemical code, and began deciphering it at his temporary residence.
• Lust watched Edward’s progress and decided the Reincarnators should intervene without disrupting the plan involving Wrath.
• Jiaren agreed to his partners’ request to approach Edward, hoping to investigate him and obtain the information about the Philosopher’s Stone.
• Jiaren and his companions entered Edward’s room, claimed they were now colleagues, and asked him to explain his alchemy and documents.
• Edward refused to explain his ability to use alchemy without a Transmutation Circle and concealed his discovery that the documents described how to open the Gate of Hell.
• Alphonse moved in front of Edward as Jiaren summoned his Great Tengu and suggested they settle their disagreement through an exchange of knowledge.

Lust and Envy discovered that Alphonse had gained a powerful defensive alchemy ability while Jiaren’s attack on the brothers was stopped by King Bradley. Meanwhile, Xu Yue headed to Ishval to oversee the Great Priest’s planned human sacrifice and began considering how to improve their method.

• Lust and Envy saw the brothers battling Jiaren’s Great Tengu and realized Alphonse’s hidden Alchemy Arrays could break down incoming attacks.
• Jiaren struggled to overcome Alphonse’s defenses until King Bradley arrived and ordered both sides to stop.
• Jiaren apologized to King Bradley, while Edward withheld the truth about the Philosopher’s Stones and warned that Jiaren’s group could not be trusted.
• Xu Yue received news of the confrontation and continued toward Ishval to check on the Great Priest’s plans.
• Xu Yue learned that the Great Priest intended to use Ishvalan refugees’ blood to draw an Alchemy Array and raise Jiaren’s Life Level, so he considered finding an influential person to convey a better approach.

Xu Yue found a group of Reincarnators escorting Ishvalan refugees and tortured them for information about their superiors. He learned that Captain Shion was nearby, but the captives did not know her exact location.

• Four Reincarnators whipped and escorted more than a hundred bound Ishvalan refugees through the desert.
• Xu Yue approached the group, and the Reincarnators recognized him and attacked after vowing to die for His Highness.
• Xu Yue restrained all four with sand and asked whether anyone nearby was above Veteran Intruder level.
• Xu Yue tortured the first Reincarnator until he revealed that Lord Shion was nearby, then transmuted him into a sphinx.
• Xu Yue tortured the second Reincarnator and began questioning the third, who revealed that Captain Shion supervised nearby teams but did not know her exact location.

Nakayama Shion led a motorcycle squad to pursue the escaped sacrifices and confront Scar, while Xu Yue waited elsewhere for the guards to arrive. After they failed to appear, Xu Yue departed in a sand mech with Dogleg Sha.

• Nakayama Shion questioned fleeing Ishvalan refugees, learned one person had rescued them, and split her squad to pursue him and gather the other sacrifices.
• Scar freed captured Ishvalans after defeating four guards, but Nakayama Shion and her squad arrived and attacked him.
• Nakayama Shion pierced Scar's calf with an alchemically transformed whip, and Scar began looking for a chance to strike back.
• Xu Yue waited on a sand dune for the guard squad but realized they had not come, then formed a sand mech and left with Dogleg Sha.

Xu Yue arrived in a mech just as Nakayama Shion was about to kill Scar, then defeated her and persuaded her to help alter the Alchemy Array. He gave her revised blueprints to present as the work of Von Hohenheim, leaving her to take them to the Great Priest.

• Scar collapsed the sand beneath Nakayama Shion and tried to touch her with his decomposing hand, but she caught his wrist and overpowered him.
• Xu Yue arrived in a mech, rescued Scar from Nakayama Shion, and said he had come alone to discuss changes to the Alchemy Array.
• Xu Yue revealed that the planned blood-bound souls could contaminate Jiaren's soul and offered to redesign the array.
• After a fierce battle in which Xu Yue used a Philosopher's Stone, Nakayama Shion and the three royal guards were defeated.
• Xu Yue gave Nakayama Shion revised Alchemy Array blueprints and told her to say Von Hohenheim had provided them.

Nakayama Shion’s deception seemed at risk when Von Hohenheim returned to the Great Priest with an Alchemy Array blueprint, but Hohenheim unexpectedly cooperated with the plan. As the Great Priest began preparing to use Hohenheim’s design, Hohenheim secretly asked Shion to introduce him to the blueprint’s true designer.

• Nakayama Shion told the Great Priest that Von Hohenheim had designed a more effective Alchemy Array that would avoid additional slaughter.
• The Great Priest revealed that he had previously driven Von Hohenheim away, then agreed to hear him out when a Reincarnator reported his return.
• Von Hohenheim examined the blueprint and claimed that it was his design, while Nakayama Shion kept up her awkward deception.
• The Great Priest praised Von Hohenheim’s cooperation, promised him a Philosopher’s Stone, and ordered his subordinates to prepare the revised Alchemy Array.
• Von Hohenheim contacted Nakayama Shion telepathically and asked her to introduce him to the blueprint’s real designer.

Von Hohenheim improved the Great Priest’s Alchemy Array, and Xu Yue recognized him as an Upper Realm Authority. The chapter ended with Von Hohenheim praising Xu Yue’s quick wit after Shion brought him to Xu Yue’s home.

• Von Hohenheim examined the base’s Alchemy Array and realized the faction was investing heavily to strengthen someone.
• The Great Priest invited Von Hohenheim to improve the array, and Von Hohenheim agreed in exchange for sparing the Ishvalans.
• Von Hohenheim meticulously improved the Alchemy Array, surprising Xu Yue with the faction’s skill and efficiency.
• Xu Yue asked Shion to bring the person responsible for the changes to meet him.
• Xu Yue recognized the visitor as Senior Von Hohenheim Paracelsus, who praised Xu Yue’s quick wit and alchemical talent.

Von Hohenheim warned Xu Yue not to interfere with his mission or alter history, but Xu Yue refused to be intimidated. After Xu Yue demonstrated that he could perform mass-energy conversion through his own alchemical understanding, Von Hohenheim backed down and left.

• Nakayama Shion apologized to Xu Yue after realizing Von Hohenheim was a projection from the upper realm.
• Von Hohenheim asked Xu Yue not to interfere with his mission or drastically change history, offering him some benefits in exchange.
• Xu Yue said he would take benefits without letting Von Hohenheim interfere with him, angering Von Hohenheim.
• Von Hohenheim used alchemy to transform Xu Yue's cottage and demonstrated his projection's ability to convert mass and energy.
• Xu Yue demonstrated the same kind of conversion through his own understanding of alchemy, astonishing Von Hohenheim.
• Von Hohenheim chose to leave rather than become Xu Yue's enemy.

Scar wondered whether Xu Yue’s help could save Ishval, while Edward and Alphonse uncovered the secret behind the Philosopher’s Stone and headed for the abandoned Fifth Research Institute. Lust and Envy watched them, concerned about Xu Yue’s power and planning to turn their allies against him.

• Scar asked Xu Yue whether his efforts could save the people of Ishval, and Xu Yue urged him to keep faith while telling Dogleg Sha to summon the prince from Central Capital.
• Edward and Alphonse told Armstrong that the Philosopher’s Stone required the souls of living people, and Armstrong identified the abandoned Fifth Research Institute as a likely research site.
• Armstrong left to seek authorization to search the institute, but Edward and Alphonse sneaked out toward it before he returned.
• Lust and Envy watched the brothers head for the institute, and Lust said she intended to use their allies to oppose Xu Yue, the greatest obstacle to their plan.

Jiaren planned to trade with the Homunculi for the complete Philosopher's Stone Alchemy Array while preparing to turn their scheme against them. At the Fifth Research Institute, Aili began revealing the truth to Edward and Alphonse, but the Reincarnators arrived as she identified the Homunculi and their creator.

• Jiaren ordered his group to demand the complete Philosopher's Stone Alchemy Array from the Homunculi and considered using them to lure out their enemies.
• An explosion destroyed the Fifth Research Institute ruins just as Edward and Alphonse reached them, destroying a clue they had found.
• Aili offered to explain the truth behind the Philosopher's Stone and the larger plan connected to its creation.
• Lust attacked Aili, but Aili effortlessly cut Envy in half with alchemy and warned Lust not to test her patience.
• Aili told Edward and Alphonse that Envy and Lust were Homunculi created by someone closely related to their father.
• Jiaren stopped his group from attacking as Aili revealed that the Homunculi's creator shared their father's blood.

Aili explained the mastermind’s plan to use Amestris and five Human Pillars to fuse with Truth, but Jiaren’s group decided to capture the Human Pillars and seize the alchemy secrets for themselves. Jiaren unleashed a military formation and declared himself a god, only for Aili to strike him into the ground and attack him with the compressed rubble.

• Aili explained that the mastermind planned to use Amestris as the price of exchange and needed five Human Pillars who had touched Truth.
• Qingchuan persuaded Jiaren to use his military formation to capture the Human Pillars, and Inoue Ieyasu supported the plan.
• Jiaren ordered his forces to capture Aili, the brothers, Lust, and Envy, then used the formation to fly and compress rubble into deadly weapons.
• Jiaren proclaimed himself a god, but Aili appeared beside him and punched him into the ground.
• Aili gathered the compressed weapons and hurled them into Jiaren’s hole, causing a powerful underground explosion.

Aili defeated Jiaren’s military formation, forcing him to flee underground while she let him go and sent a message to the force behind him. Jiaren escaped to the Great Priest’s completed Alchemy Array, where he recovered with a Philosopher’s Stone and asked what had happened.

• Jiaren was overwhelmed by Aili’s power and fled through the magma, while Qingchuan and Inoue Ieyasu urged him to escape.
• Aili told Edward that Jiaren could not be killed yet, then instructed Lust and Envy to deliver a message to the one behind them.
• The Dwarf in the Flask watched the battle and considered cooperating with Aili’s side to refine Amestris.
• The Great Priest announced that the Alchemy Array was complete and praised Von Hohenheim while waiting for Jiaren to bring resources.
• Jiaren burst out of the ground, collapsed on the sand, and was treated with a Philosopher’s Stone by the Great Priest.
• After recovering, Jiaren praised the Great Priest and Shion, while the Great Priest asked how Jiaren had been defeated despite using a military formation.

Jiaren told Von Hohenheim about the world’s hidden secret, and Von Hohenheim agreed to help the group prepare against Penguin’s forces. The group began using their Alchemy Array to strengthen Jiaren, while Qingchuan warned that they might need to retreat if the enemy attacked.

• Jiaren returned with a military formation and explained the world’s secret to Von Hohenheim, who realized the Alchemy Array could draw Penguin’s attention.
• Von Hohenheim introduced himself as the father of the two brothers and said he was scattering the souls in his Philosopher’s Stone to oppose a grand array.
• Von Hohenheim advised Jiaren to strengthen himself with the Alchemy Array and warned that their enemies might attack during the process.
• Qingchuan urged Jiaren to save their ultimate military formation for a critical moment and avoid confronting Penguin’s forces head-on.
• Jiaren and the others scattered tons of valuable resources around the pyramid to begin strengthening him.

Jiaren confronted Xu Yue while guarding a pyramid of treasures gathered for an alchemy array, but chose to fight with an ordinary military formation rather than reveal his strongest trump card. As Jiaren rose to challenge Xu Yue, Von Hohenheim noticed he could not sense any military-formation aura from him.

• Jiaren promised the Reincarnators the remaining power in the medicinal dregs after he succeeded in using the gathered treasures.
• Xu Yue appeared, and Jiaren accused him of attacking the Empire's experts and interfering with his plans before proposing that their hard-won peace should not be destroyed.
• Jiaren exchanged a signal with Qingchuan and decided to resist Xu Yue without using his hidden trump card, hoping to keep his plans for the later Alchemy Array concealed.
• Jiaren activated an ordinary military formation and asked the Great Priest to cover him as he rose to test Xu Yue.
• Von Hohenheim watched the confrontation and wondered why he could not sense a military-formation aura from Xu Yue.

Xu Yue lured Jiaren into pursuing him, then used precise alchemy to overwhelm Jiaren’s military formation and drive him underground. Jiaren escaped believing he had learned Xu Yue’s limits, while Von Hohenheim watched in disbelief at Xu Yue’s control.

• Xu Yue retreated to draw Jiaren after Jiaren deployed another military formation, and Jiaren chased him, convinced Xu Yue had been bluffing.
• Scar and Dogleg Sha encountered the massive sandstorm stirred up by Xu Yue and Jiaren; Dogleg Sha pretended to collapse, and the two rolled down a dune.
• A mission triggered for Xu Yue and Jiaren, and Jiaren was astonished by the reward while Xu Yue noted that his own reward had been capped.
• Xu Yue stopped and used a chain reaction of alchemy to erase the sandstorm, then concentrated the resulting force into an air wall that battered Jiaren’s golden defenses.
• Von Hohenheim realized Xu Yue had not used a military formation, while Jiaren burrowed underground to escape and told himself the fight had not been a loss.

Von Hohenheim observed Jiaren’s power, then the Dwarf in the Flask reassured the Homunculi and prepared to advance his plan. Jiaren and the surviving Reincarnators took refuge in a secret manor, where Jiaren concluded that Penguin’s faction had committed everything to supporting Teruhito’s ascent, while Teruhito reluctantly accepted that his mother wanted him to become Emperor.

• Von Hohenheim watched Jiaren retreat and judged his alchemy to be extraordinary, while considering the military formation and national fortune that could make a direct confrontation dangerous.
• Lust, Envy, and Gluttony went to the Dwarf in the Flask, who said his breakthroughs would accelerate the plan and sent them to help their returning allies.
• Lust led Jiaren and the surviving Reincarnators to a secret manor, where Jiaren thanked her and agreed to oppose Penguin’s people.
• Jiaren told the Reincarnators that Penguin had gambled everything on defeating him and supporting Teruhito, and the Great Priest said their Dragon Qi and national fortune gave them a decisive advantage.
• Teruhito complained to his mother that becoming Emperor was no fun, but resigned himself to following her wishes.

Xu Yue used Von Hohenheim’s exchange Alchemy Array to transmute a vast collection of treasures, while the Dwarf in the Flask began activating his Country-wide Alchemy Array. The arrays erupted across Amestris, and Von Hohenheim realized the altered transmutation was using everyone’s Gate of Truth as its price.

• Xu Yue praised the exchange array’s yield and added Divine Tree Fruits, planet-absorbing fruits, and other unwanted items to transmute.
• Von Hohenheim sensed an immense alchemical reaction and recognized the exchange array he had designed, while the Dwarf in the Flask prepared to begin his plan.
• The Dwarf in the Flask selected Sloth and Gluttony as human pillars and readied his enhanced Country-wide Alchemy Array.
• The Dwarf in the Flask discovered that someone had secretly altered several transmutation nodes, improving the array while changing its exchange price.
• Pillars of light spread across Amestris as the array activated, shocking Jiaren, the other Reincarnators, and Von Hohenheim.
• Von Hohenheim realized that the array was using the Gates of Truth inside everyone across the continent as its price.